LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Unified School District will pay $88 million to settle sexual abuse cases at two elementary schools where complaints about the teachers’ behavior surfaced long before their arrest, officials confirmed Monday.
The settlement with 30 children and their families, finalized over the weekend, is the second-largest in district history. It brings a dark chapter to an apparent close.
The cases at De La Torre Elementary in Wilmington and Telfair Avenue Elementary in Pacoima emerged in the aftermath of better-known sexual misconduct at Miramonte Elementary, south of downtown L.A. Altogether, a spate of prosecutions and lawsuits led to huge settlements and spurred the district to announce a raft of reforms at the nation’s second-largest school system.
The abuse scandals prompted the school system to better document and retain allegations against employees. The district also focused on better training on recognizing and reporting abuse and set up a special investigations unit.
